Oil burner



April 1951 J. D. DUNCAN 2,547,842

OIL BURNER Filed March a, 1948 2 Shets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR Arroawe Yr April 3, 1951 J. D. DUNCAN 5 54 OIL BURNER Filed March 5, 1948 2 Shets-Sheet 2 Is I7 20 25 INVENTOR K2 [flawed/u I AT TORNE YS Patented Apr. 3, 1951 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE OIL BURNER James D. Duncan, Loris, S. 0.

Application March 3, 1948, Serial No. 12,819

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to an air heater and more particularly to an air heater for curing tobacco commonly called a tobacco curer.

The objects of my invention include the provision of an air heater for curing tobacco and one which is very reliable, safe and efficient in operation so that it may safely be left unattended and can be relied upon to continue to operate properly and effectively so long as fuel is supplied thereto.

A further object of my invention is to provide a tobacco curer of the character described and one which may be adjusted very simply and easily to meet the air conditions in any type of tobacco barn and to insure complete combustion of the fuel and to avoid any carbonizing.

A further object of my invention is to provide a tobacco curer of the character described and which is of very sturdy, rugged, durable and simple construction and which comprises a small number of parts and also is very compact and does not require much space or have any moving parts.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the description which follows, read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side view of a tobacco curer embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view thereof and is taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary View of a part of the side of the curer and shows the ignition door; Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of one of the down draft burners and the base plate; and

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of the curer and is taken on the line 5- -5 of Figure 1.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawmgs.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, reference is made to the embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptive language is employed. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the invention is thereby intended and that various changes and alterations are contemplated such as would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

Referring to the drawings, the tobacco curer broadly comprises a housing structure which forms a horizontal drum-like combustion chamber with duct outlets at opposite ends and with an adjustable damper in one side and an ignition door in the other side. Two down draft burners are mounted on a base plate which forms the bottom of the combustion chamber and a fuel feed pipe extends upwardly through the base plate to each burner. The base plate also has an orifice through which fuel which may have overflowed from the burners flows into a drain pipe.

More specifically, the base plate 1 is pan-like and generally oval, and has an upstanding flange 2 which confines on the plate oil which may accumulate thereon and has outside of this flange a horizontal seating surface 3 on which seats two complementary members 4 and 5 which bow up over the base plate from opposite sides and meet at the top to complete the combustion chamber. These members have upper flanges 6 and 1 which meet and are bolted together by bolts 8 and have lower flanges 9 which meet and are fastened together by bolts 10. The ends of these members 4 and 5 are also formed with flanges H and I2 and to these flanges are secured, as by bolts 13, outlet conduits l4 and 15 to which the heating ducts, indicated by dot and dash lines in Figure 1 but not otherwise shown, are connected. Suitable damper openings l6 are provided on the side of one of the sidemembers and a rotatable shutter l1 suited to these damper openings is associated therewith, for instance by being carried ona bolt l8 for rotatable adjust.- ment thereon. The other side member is provided with a door opening l9 and with a door 20 therefor which is slidable behind opposite confining guide pieces 2| formed on the side member.

Two down draft burners spaced apart along the horizontal axis of the base plate I are supported thereon. Each burner includes a circular burner plate 22 which has an interior fuel cavity 23. A fuel supply pipe 24 leads upwardly through an aperture 25 therefor in the base plate I to this fuel cavity and a circle of small fuel passageways 26 lead from the cavity to the upper surface of the burner plate 22. Around the outside of the circle of fuel outlets 26 is a shallow trough formation 27 adapted to receive fuel for ignition purposes. The

base plate I has a small aperture 28 through which fuel-spilling onto the base plate drains to a drain pipe 29 which may be welded or otherwise secured to the under side of the base plate. The top of each burner plate has an upstanding projection 30 at its center with a depression 3| at the top. The lower end of a draft tube supporting rod 32 seats in this depression. The upper portion of rod 32 is threaded, as at 33, and is engaged in a threaded aperture 34 which is formed at the center of a cross piece 35 secured across a draft tube 36 at or near its upper end. Rod 32 also extends through an aperture 31 of a similar cross piece 38 secured across the draft tube at or toward its lower end. By rotating the rod and the tube relatively to each other the tube may be finely adjusted toward and from the burner plate in a most simple, easy and expeditious manner and the proportion of air admitted to the burner is thus regulated in accordance with existing conditions of temperature, humidity and the like, so that complete combustion is obtained and there is no carbonizatio-n. The upper ends of the burner tubes protrude from the top of the combustion chamber, extending through circular apertures formed by complementary semi-circular recesses 39 in the top edges of the wall members 4 and 5. The burner tubes are thus steadied and held upright and at the same time are freely accessible for adjustment. Suitable supports 40 or other supporting structure may be provided for the base plate to rest on and to support the burner.

In starting the burner the downdraft tubes and the damper are properly adjusted and a small quantity of fuel is fed to the troughs of the burner plates and is ignited through the door 20. When the burners start to operate on the down draft principle the fuel supply, the down draft tubes and the damper are adjusted to suit the existing conditions and to burn without any carbonization. The safety, reliability and efficiency of the tobacco curer is readily apparent, as is the ease with which it may be adjusted to meet different conditions. There are no moving parts to get out of adjustment or to fail to operate properly due to defective lubrication or for other causes. The curer is exceedingly simple in construction, comprises very few parts and is easy to assemble. Many other advantages will be obvious to those familiar with tobacco curers and their use.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A tobacco curer of the character described, including in combination, a flat, oval, pan-like member forming the bottom of a combustion chamber, a pair of complementary enclosing wall members resting on opposite longitudinal half peripheral surfaces of said bottom plate and shaped to curve upwardly and inwardly therefrom and meeting and secured together vertically above and in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the oval bottom member and therewith completing the combustion chamber of the tobacco curer, said two complementary wall members having complementary edge orifices at their ends and together forming orifices at opposite ends of the combustion chamber for the discharge of products of combustion and heated air from the combustion chamber, said two wall members having also pairs of complementary edge orifices at their top edges and together forming a pair of apertures opening into the combustion chamber and each aperture being adapted to receive a down draft burner tube to protrude therethrough from the interior of the combustion chamber, one of said wall members having a damper located centrally in its side, an ignition door in the side of one of said wall members, two burner plates spaced apart in line with said opposite discharge orifices and supported on said pan-like bottom member in vertical alignment with said draft tube apertures formed by said wall members, each of said burner plates having a support for a draft tube supporting rod, a threaded rod resting on and extending upwardly from each of said rod supports and extending upwardly through the corresponding draft tube aperture formed by said wall members, a draft tube threadedly carried on each of said rods and rotatably adjustable vertically thereon, said tubes being disposed in said combustion chamber in vertical alignment over said burner plates and having their upper ends protruding upwardly through said draft tube apertures, whereby said draft tubes may be adjusted on said rods toward and from the burner plates by manipulation from outside of the combustion chamber wall members, each of said burner plates having a plurality of burner orifices and a trough for ignition fuel in the vicinity of said burner orifices, the overflow from said troughs being adapted to be received on said panlike bottom member, means for conducting fuel to said burner orifices, and means for draining overflow fuel from said bottom member.

JAMES D. DUNCAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 308,911 Lowrey Dec. 9, 1884 708,343 Greene Sept. 2, 1902 742,147 Badger Oct. 27, 1903 751,968 Wolf Feb. 9, 1904 1,500,509 McCulloch July 8, 1924 1,623,415 Kennedy Apr. 5, 1927 2,051,348 Smith Aug. 18, 1936 2,271,484 Joyce Jan. 27, 1942 2,444,814 Dowless July 6, 1948 

